Brush fires that closed I-95 in Indian River County contained; road reopens

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Two brush fires east of Interstate 95 closed the highway to traffic between interchanges at State Road 60 in Vero Beach and County Road 512 in Sebastian for about two hours Sunday afternoon.

The larger fire covered about 150 acres, while the smaller blaze was about 10 acres. Both were caused by lightning strikes, said Melissa Yunas, wildfire mitigation specialist with the state Division of Forestry.

Northbound lanes nearest the fire were closed to traffic about 2:15 p.m., as heavy smoke enveloped the highway. The southbound lanes were closed about 15 minutes later.

The highway reopened at 4:25 p.m.

Yunas said there were no injuries and no homes or other structures were endangered by the fires, which were 85 percent contained with plowed fire lines by early evening.

She said that a lot of unburned vegetation is confined within the plowed fire lines and that foresters were deciding if it should be allowed to safely burn. Their primary concern is to prevent a shift in wind from rekindling the fire and again obscuring visibility on I-95.